Joseph Littles-Nguzo Saba Charter School

In the summer of 1997 the West Palm Beach Housing Authority's Board of Commissioners voted approval of a proposal by then-member Amefika D.Geuka to start a charter school to serve youth residing in the Authority's housing units. Thereafter a 40 member task force con­sisting mostly of retired educators was convened to begin the process.Nine participants survived the arduous first phase of planning and signed the school's articles of incorporation in the spring of 1998.

The group was awarded a charter by the School Board of Palm Beach County on December 9, 1998, and the school began operating on January 20, 1999 with just 21 students in temporary facilities courtesy of the Urban League of Palm Beach County. Three weeks later, enrollment had increased to 34 students, and classes were moved to portables rented from Redemptive Life Fellowship at 2105 N. Australian Avenue . When the school year ended in June, 1999 enrollment had grown to 70. Classes continued at the Redemptive Life location through the following school year (1999-2000) while the school's administrative offices moved among three different locations.

In August, 2000, the School District agreed to lease classrooms and office space to the school at the Roosevelt Full Service Center on Tamarind Avenue for the first semester.With proceeds from a Florida State Infrastructure Thrift (S. LT ) Award, school officials were able to lease its present space at 5829 Corporate Way in West Palm Beach , and relocated there in December, 2000. Renovation of the new space was completed by the first of September 2001 , upon which occasion the JL-NSCS will have succeeded in becoming what its founders affectionately refer to as "a real school" with enrollment approaching 100.